I've only been making lather for about 5 months now and until last month it's been only creams. Twice I tried a couple of soaps with mixed results. With both soaps & creams I load up in the tin then onto face lathering.

My question to you is what is the proper way to care for these products after using them?
Wipe the foam of the top, screw the lid on and put it away until next time?
Wipe the foam off the top and let it air out to dry (how long?) and then put the lid on?
It really doesn't matter?

At the end of my shave I rinse the soap jar, also usually including a quick rinse of the soap itself just to clean things up. Then it's left open until the next shave until it either gets used again or covered and put away until next use.

My soaps just get re-lidded, no rinsing or drying while in use for a week or two, I let the soap dry, proto lather/foam not rinsed, before covering and removing it from rotation. I do the same for dehydrated creams since I load from the tub, hydrated creams/ normal consistency, I apply to my face using my index finger, and I face lather 100% of the time, soap or cream.

I face lather and use soaps. After I load the brush, I rinse out the soap container because I like to keep it looking clean. I then leave it uncovered while I shave. After I finish my shave, I put the lid back on. This has worked for me and I have not had any issues with the soap.
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I (usually) use a soap for a week at a time. During that week I wipe the proto lather off and put it on the brush for each shave, then put the lid on. On my last shave of that week I will leave the lid off over night until my shave the next day to let things dry out a bit.

Creams get scooped out of tubs or squirted out of tubes so they just get re covered immediately.

I wipe off the excess and apply it to my face, close the soap, then lather. No waste and keeps the soap dry enough that it stores well even if it doesn't get used again for months. If I have been sloppy and the container needs a rinse I rinse and dry the container making an effort to keep the contents as dry as possible. I never air soaps out as I want to preserve the scent as much as possible.

(07-14-2017, 05:20 PM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: I face lather and use soaps. After I load the brush, I rinse out the soap container because I like to keep it looking clean. I then leave it uncovered while I shave. After I finish my shave, I put the lid back on. This has worked for me and I have not had any issues with the soap.
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(07-14-2017, 05:20 PM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: I face lather and use soaps. After I load the brush, I rinse out the soap container because I like to keep it looking clean. I then leave it uncovered while I shave. After I finish my shave, I put the lid back on. This has worked for me and I have not had any issues with the soap.
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This is what I do, also, but I don't rinse out the soap container. I use my finger to extract the remaining protolather from the tub/container and apply it to my face, then close the lid. I have never had any issues with my soaps in the past six years.

I use a mug, to build lather. The creams are easy enough, you just replace the cap, or, lid. Or, at most, wipe off a bit, of excess, from the tube, before replacing the cap. For the soft soaps, I simply wipe off the the surface, and, replace the lid. For the hard soaps, I was out the container, rinse off the soap, dry it, with a towel, and, put it away. One roundel of soap lasts several weeks, even a few months, if, properly, cared for, and, maintained.

I never bloom any soap because I don't get any benefit from it and because it eats soap faster. I also load with a brush that's on the more dry side. I don't wipe all the lather off the top all the time but I generally wipe it really quick. That's about it. That said, lots of people bloom their soaps, attack them with super wet brushes, and leave the lather sitting on the soap without much issue. The worst that happens is you buy soap sooner.

I always rinse as much as I can out with warm water, when it comes to soaps - then shake the container, and leave it open for 3-4 days to dry out.
Then put the lid back on.

I'm moving away from creams, because some of mine are turning into croaps, and I prefer harder soaps, because it's more safe to rinse them out with water than it is with creams/croaps.

I also now prefer loading my brush in soaps, rather than creams, because some times you end up with half the container on your brush from creams, other times you need to dig deep, and this annoys me more now.

I bowl lather, which might be a good idea for a beginner, as it's easier to see what you've got and adjust things accordingly (i.e., add more water). After loading, I clean the soap off with my finger, and add it to the lather bowl. After I'm done, I put the soap on a shelf and let it dry overnight.

(07-14-2017, 05:20 PM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: I face lather and use soaps. After I load the brush, I rinse out the soap container because I like to keep it looking clean. I then leave it uncovered while I shave. After I finish my shave, I put the lid back on. This has worked for me and I have not had any issues with the soap.
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(07-18-2017, 07:39 PM)IMightBeWrong Wrote: I never bloom any soap because I don't get any benefit from it and because it eats soap faster.

That said, lots of people bloom their soaps, attack them with super wet brushes, and leave the lather sitting on the soap without much issue. The worst that happens is you buy soap sooner.

My experience is that blooming soap actually makes a puck of soap last much longer.

That is because my brush never touches the puck itself (←link); I build a fine, protective lather, starting with a dry brush using the bloom water itself both to wet the brush and to make the lather.

Because I use all of the water that has been sitting on and around the puck, pouring it out into a separate mug or scuttle for the whipping stage, I simply replace the lid on the soap container at the end of the shave. Using that routine, individual pucks have lasted for as long as three years (and counting); I have never had a puck of soap spoil or “go bad.” Today, a tin of Mike’s Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper that dates from the spring of 2014 is in my rotation; it has been used regularly and frequently, and still is only half used up.

Of course, there are others, less parsimonious than I am, who think that a puck of soap lasting a long time is a Bad Outcome.Chaçun à son goût.

That is because my brush never touches the puck itself (←link); I build a fine, protective lather, starting with a dry brush using the bloom water itself both to wet the brush and to make the lather.

Because I use all of the water that has been sitting on and around the puck, pouring it out into a separate mug or scuttle for the whipping stage, I simply replace the lid on the soap container at the end of the shave. Using that routine, individual pucks have lasted for as long as three years (and counting); I have never had a puck of soap spoil or “go bad.” Today, a tin of Mike’s Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper that dates from the spring of 2014 is in my rotation; it has been used regularly and frequently, and still is only half used up.

Of course, there are others, less parsimonious than I am, who think that a puck of soap lasting a long time is a Bad Outcome.Chaçun à son goût.

I salute anyone who blazes their own path, that takes courage, it's always easier to follow the crowd. If you enjoy it , do it, I enjoy lather-less creams like TJ's Mango SC or Stephans Stay Smooth to change things up on occasion. On another site, that was considered blasphemous!... and why I left, among other reasons.